Abstract

This book examines the complex interplay between industrial heritage and tourism. It serves to stimulate meaningful dialogue about the socioeconomic values of industrial sites and the use of tourism for the growth of the creative economy, and to better understand how the collective social memory and local identity connected to these sites have been shaped by different social groups over time. The volume presents a conceptual framework underpinned by case studies drawn from Asia, North America, Australasia and Europe and advocates the creation of mixed-use spaces and stakeholder collaboration to develop tourism at industrial heritage sites. These theoretical and practical perspectives will be of use to researchers and students of heritage tourism, urban and regional planning and tourism marketing.

Industrial Heritage Tourism provides a succinct and meticulous model and method for rethinking historical mechanization processes, modern-day industrial operations, and their tangible vestiges as consumable heritage products. This seminal book is essential reading for all students and scholars who are interested in heritage conservation, industrialization processes, urban renewal, and heritage as a consumable commodity. I applaud Philip Xie for delivering an erudite and informative monograph and introducing a useful framework for understanding industrial heritage, which will no doubt have significant implications for the academy as this subfield of inquiry continues to flourish.

Philip Feifan Xie is Professor of the Tourism, Leisure and Event Planning program at Bowling Green State University, Ohio, USA. He holds a PhD in planning from the University of Waterloo, Canada. His areas of specialization include cultural and heritage tourism, tourism morphology and event management. 

A highly original, engaging and thought-provoking text that is thorough in its coverage and insightful in its critical appreciation of industrial heritage tourism. The ability to fuse academic rigor with flowing narrative is never easy but the author is to be congratulated on a theoretical text that delivers a new 'tourist gaze' directed at industrial heritage with nostalgia, place identity and community engagement common themes running throughout.

This book provides a bold and timely analysis of the current state and prospects of industrial heritage tourism, highlighting successes and failures alike, with a particular focus on its heritage/economy/urban regeneration nexus. The reasoning is based on an impressive body of international references and fieldwork while embedding the theme in post-modern discourses and stressing the need for spatio-temporal contextualisation.

This book provides a framework and exemplary case studies that provide a synthesis and also provoke new ideas for the understanding and conceptualisation for those researching temporal changes and industrial landscapes. This is a great introduction to industrial heritage for students of cultural, heritage and tourism studies.